Evolutions
by orangefire
Summary: Important Authors Note
1. on an airplane

i"August 15, 2003 - 6:39 PM  
  
Sometimes life is weird. You can be totally content with your life - have a great boyfriend, cool parents, awesome friends - and suddenly everything changes. These changes can be brought about by another person, a bizarre event, or just maturation. Sometimes these changes are good, other times they suck."/i  
  
Closing her journal, she stared at nothing out the airplane window. A haphazard strand of deep brown hair fell forward into her face, hiding for just a moment one of her striking emerald eyes. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about the events of the past two weeks. She wiped them away quickly before the overly helpful flight attendant could ask her for the millionth time if she was feeling alright.  
  
Leaning down, she pulled her backpack up into her lap. She reached into it and withdrew the pictures of the people she was going to live with. The first was a photograph of four people smiling in front of a Christmas tree. It was actually one of those photo-Christmas cards that had a cheesy message along the side in golden cursive writing. This one said "May the Christmas season fill you with joy! Love Sam, Jo, Lizzie and Matt." She ran her fingers over the picture and smiled to herself. They looked so happy, so complete. She had not actually seen them since she was only six years old, and now she was going to live with them.  
  
She flipped through the pictures in her hand, stopping at one that Jo had sent to her mother that past spring. Lizzie was standing in between a boy and a girl, all three smiling and holding up their junior high diplomas. Flipping the picture over, she reread the words in Jo's handwriting for about the tenth time: "Gordo, Lizzie and Miranda. Junior High Graduation. June 2002."  
  
The pilot's voice came over the intercom saying that they would be landing in fifteen minutes and that it was now time to put your seats and tray tables in the upright position. The girl slid the photographs and her journal back into her backpack and placed it on the ground. She glanced out the window and watched the green landscape get closer and closer, until she could make out distinct buildings and cars. The plane finally landed and she gathered her things to exit the plane.  
  
Walking off the plane, she walked off to one side, put her backpack down, and searched the terminal for her new family. 


	2. memories and families

She scanned the crowds of people looking for a familiar face. At least, as familiar as you could call knowing someone from photographs for the past nine years. She saw people hugging each other; some were crying, others laughing. Everyone looked happy. She was probably the only one in the entire airport who was not looking forward to finding the people picking her up. As it turned out, she was the findee, not the finder.  
  
"Riley? Riley Drake? Is that you?"  
  
She turned on her heel to face the person whose cheerful voice was calling to her. She smiled slightly, recognizing the girl from the pictures. "Yea. Lizzie, right?"  
  
The other girl nodded, her blonde hair bouncing in its ponytail and her hazel eyes shining. She smiled, and came forward to give Riley a quick hug. "Oh my gosh! We haven't seen each other in, like, five years!"  
  
Riley quickly stepped backwards out of Lizzie's embrace, warranting a small frown from the girl. "Nine, actually. I was six and you were five last time your family was up in Massachusetts." Riley looked around behind Lizzie. "Now I know that I have an aunt and an uncle and another cousin running around this place. Where are they?"  
  
Lizzie growled, "Well, Matt, being the weasel he is, decided it would be fun to run off right when your plane landed. So my mom and dad are around somewhere looking for him and I was left here to find you. Mom said that once I got you we should go down to baggage claim and she'd meet us there."  
  
Riley nodded and picked up her backpack from where she had dropped it on the floor earlier. She walked alongside Lizzie, smiling and nodding her head as Lizzie chattered away about everything she could think of. She was not really paying attention, as her mind was wandering back to how she ended up in California with her new family.  
  
~~~  
  
Riley laughed as her father joked about his secretary from work as he drove through Hyannis. Her mother reached over and grasped his hand in hers. "Don't worry Sean. I'm sure she'll get better with time."  
  
Sean rolled his eyes and laughed again, "Somehow I doubt that, Rebecca. She is a very stupid woman. I don't even know why I hired her."  
  
Rebecca laughed and patted her husband's arm. She looked out the window at all the cars driving through the small Cape Cod town. "I hate summers on the Cape. So many people."  
  
Riley smiled at her mother's comments and murmured her agreement. She, too, was staring out the window at the surrounding cars. There was a sudden large gap in the vehicles in the opposite lane that was being quickly closed down by a large black pickup truck with a boat on the attached trailer. iThat truck is going way too fast on this road/i, Riley thought to herself. Just when the truck was about one hundred yards from Sean's small Mazda, it skidded on the remnants of the previous night's thunder storm and swerved out of control. Riley had just enough time to scream before the truck slammed into their small car, throwing it off the road, and crushing it underneath the weight of the large boat and trailer. Her world went black.  
  
~~~  
  
"Riley? Hey Riley?" Lizzie waved her hand in front of the other girls' face. "Which bags are yours?"  
  
Riley jerked back into the present just in time to see her three suitcases slide past them on the conveyor belt. "Those three. The green ones." She pointed them out, but they had already swung back around the track. Lizzie and Riley waited for them to come back around and managed to grab two of the three heavy cases. A long arm reached out and pulled the third one from the track, setting it easily down on the floor of the baggage claim area. Riley spun quickly to see who had helped her with her luggage, only to find herself looking at a very familiar, goofy grin. She had memorized that grin from the Christmas card in her backpack. It looked so much like her father's smile. "Hey Matt. Thanks for the help."  
  
Matt smiled at her, "Not a problem. Anything for a cousin I haven't seen since I was three." He stepped forward to give her a hug, only for her to recoil much like she had at Lizzie's attempt for a hug. He smiled uncertainly and picked up the suitcase he had lifted off the conveyor belt. "C'mon. Mom and Dad are waiting outside in the car."  
  
Riley and Lizzie each grabbed a suitcase and Riley shouldered her backpack once again. She took a deep breath and followed her two younger cousins through the California airport.  
  
**A/N: Next chapter: Riley meets up with Jo and Sam and moves into her new home. We also learn more about how she ended up in California with the McGuires.** 


	3. a boyfriend a memory and a car ride home

She looked over at her cousin and sighed quietly. The other girl looked so content and happy. How could she not? She had her family, her friends, and her life, all at her fingertips. There she sat, twirling a long strand of blonde hair around her perfectly polished finger, not a care in the world. She was gazing out the window with a faraway look on her face, probably thinking about some guy she had a crush on or how much fun it was going to be to have an older sister. Life was so unfair. This fourteen year old girl was sitting next to her, perfectly content with her whole life, and here she sat, just one year older, her whole life having just been torn to shreds.  
  
Riley pulled her backpack into her lap, withdrawing more pictures from within its dark pockets. She ran her finger over a picture of her with a teenage boy. He was standing behind her, his arms around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder. They were both smiling, he with his blue eyes sparkling and his shaggy blonde hair falling into his face, she with her green eyes gazing at his profile and her brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail.  
  
"Who's that?" Lizzie had turned from her window and was now looking intently at the photograph in Riley's hand. "He's cute."  
  
Riley smiled slightly. She placed the picture into Lizzie's outstretched hand, "Dimitri. He's my boyfriend."  
  
Turning in her seat in the front, Jo leaned back and took the picture from Lizzie. She inspected it, and smiled. "You two look very happy."  
  
"We are. We've been going out since the beginning of seventh grade, so our three year anniversary is in like a month." Riley looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers around themselves. "Only I'm not going to be with him this year."  
  
Riley looked out the front window as a black truck approached them in the opposite lane. Her entire body tensed and her eyes widened. "Watch out," she whispered and clamped her eyes tightly shut. Lizzie looked over at her upon hearing her fervent whisper and noticed how rigid her cousin was sitting.  
  
"Riley? Are you ok? Riley?" Lizzie shook her shoulder in an attempt to get her attention, but Riley was lost in her memories.  
  
~~~  
  
She was struggling to open her eyes; they felt like they were super-glued shut. She shook her head from side to side, immediately regretting it. Her head felt like it had split open, the pain was so intense. Finally managing to open her eyes, she clamped them shut again. The lights in the room caused her head to hurt even more.  
  
A cool hand caressed her forehead and a soothing voice entered her ears, "Sshhh. You're okay. The lights are dimmer now; open your eyes." Riley slowly opened her eyes again, trying to focus on the source of that calm voice. A woman in all white, a nurse, was standing above her, still smoothing her hair. "Where am I?"  
  
The woman smiled kindly, white teeth gleaming in between her red lips. "You're in the hospital, sweetie. You were in a car accident."  
  
"Yeah. With my......"  
  
~~~  
  
"MOM! DAD!" Riley cried out. She wrenched her eyes open to the sight of her aunt and uncle's concerned faces. Sam had pulled the car over to the side of the road at Lizzie's urgent cries to Riley.  
  
She turned quickly to the side of the car and threw her body over Lizzie's to open the car door. Climbing over Lizzie and practically falling out of the vehicle, she landed on her hands and knees, vomiting onto the dusty ground. She barely noticed Jo and Lizzie rushing to her side, Jo holding her hair back and Lizzie rubbing her back. Having finished emptying her stomach, she started sobbing, her entire body shaking. Jo gathered her into her arms, hugging her tightly and trying to calm her down, while Lizzie looked on in astonishment, one hand over her mouth. Sam stood behind Lizzie, one hand on her shoulder, and Matt stood to one side of her, kicking the dirt, not knowing what to do.  
  
Riley sat in Jo's arms, crying and coughing, for about fifteen minutes, before slowly calming down. She pulled out of Jo's embrace, wiping her face with the palm of her hand. She stood slowly, unsteadily looking into the concerned faces of her aunt, uncle and cousins. Turning her head and refusing to look at them again, she climbed back into the car, sitting with her head in her hands.  
  
The McGuires looked at each other uncertainly before piling back into the car to finish the drive home. When they finally reached their house, Riley looked up for the first time in the hour long drive. Climbing out of the car and looking at the house that was her new home, tears started streaming down her face again. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her tear stained face to look at the owner. Lizzie smiled sympathetically and gave her a quick squeeze. "C'mon. I'll show you your room." 


	4. dear diary, helping out, and fond memori...

Dear Diary,  
  
Riley has been here for two days, and I still don't know how to relate to her. How do you relate to someone who lost their parents, their friends, their boyfriend, all in the span of about a month when you have all of that (well.. except for the boyfriend)? The ride home from the airport was so scary. Out of nowhere, she freaked out and had to jump out of the car to puke! I had no idea what to do! On top of all the drama with Riley, I start high school in only one week. How am I going to deal with that? Do you think that those "rules" the seniors posted on our lockers last year are true? Gordo doesn't think so. He thinks it's just a way to scare us, like a senior prank. I'm worried that Riley is going to take being in a new school really hard. I think I'm gonna go see if she needs any help in her room. Talk to you later! 3 Lizzie  
  
Shutting and locking her diary, Lizzie slid it under her mattress, before pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail. She walked down to the basement, knocking on the door at the base of the stairs. Sam and Jo had finished off the basement into a large bedroom and sitting area for Riley when they found out that she would be coming to live with them. "Riley? It's Lizzie. Can I come in?"  
  
Hearing a positive reply, Lizzie opened the door to Riley's room, glancing around at the space. To the left was the sitting area, complete with a couch, two chairs and a television with a VCR. To the right, one could see Riley's bed, a closet, a bureau and a desk. Riley was sitting on her bed, rifling through a box of photographs and cards, trying to pick which ones to post on the huge board she had hung on the wall. The board was actually an unfolded cardboard box, covered in fabric and tacked up.  
  
Lizzie pointed to it, "That's a really cool idea." She walked over and sat next to Riley, "Do you need help with anything?"  
  
"Yea, if you don't mind hanging up some of my clothes." Riley smiled at her, getting up to hang a picture of Dimitri near the center of her photo board. Already up were the photo-Christmas card of the McGuires and the pictures of Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda and of her and Dimitri.  
  
Walking over to a large box marked "CLOTHING," Lizzie started pulling out stacks of shirts and pants. "Do you have a specific order that you want everything in? Like color-coded or anything?"  
  
Riley laughed, "Nah. Just throw it all in the closet. It'll be all out of order in two days if I put it in order now, so why waste the time?"  
  
"Same with my clothes," Lizzie giggled. It seemed like Riley was finally warming up to her; this was the first time she had really laughed since she had some to California. Lizzie started hanging jeans and t-shirts in her cousin's closet, noticing that many of the clothes had paint on them. "Do you paint Ri?"  
  
Riley turned from the picture board, "Yea, is it that obvious?"  
  
"Well... yep!"  
  
"Do you think your parents would let me paint the walls down here? I don't think I can live with plain white walls." Riley looked around at the stark room.  
  
"I don't see why they wouldn't want you to. It is your room." Lizzie looked around also, "The walls are a little boring right now."  
  
Riley nodded and the two girls went back to work, Riley hanging up her pictures and Lizzie putting away her clothes. Lizzie noticed that Riley never let Lizzie get too close to her, and frowned slightly, wondering why. As she finished hanging up Riley's clothes, Lizzie noticed that Riley was standing perfectly still, staring at a picture in her hand. Lizzie walked over slowly, looking over Riley's shoulder at the photograph. It was a picture of Lizzie's aunt and uncle, Riley's parents. They were staring at each other lovingly, locked in an embrace with their arms around the other person's waist. Lizzie looked over at Riley, noticing a tear rolling down her cheek, "Are you okay?"  
  
Riley nodded, "I just miss them is all. It's really hard to accept that they're really gone for good. I don't think I've really admitted it to myself yet. Just like I haven't really admitted to myself that this isn't a vacation or a week long visit. It's for good. When I go off to college and then come back, I won't go to Massachusetts; I'll come here. It's just hard." She sighed and turned her head. "I think I'm gonna go for a walk."  
  
"Do you want me to go with you?"  
  
Shaking her head, Riley walked over to her closet and pulled out a sweatshirt, "No thanks. I just need to clear my head. I'll be back in a little while." She climbed slowly up the stairs, slightly hanging her head, hands in her pockets. Lizzie stood looking after her until she heard the front door open and close. She turned and looked at the picture of Riley's parents that had been posted right in the center of the photo board. She sighed deeply, feeling tears coming to her eyes. Rebecca and Sean had always been so nice to her and Matt. She remembered the last time she had seen them, even if Matt had been too small. Rebecca was always hugging and kissing both Riley and Lizzie, tickling Matt until he squealed with joy. Sean was always willing to play rodeo cowboy or to carry the girls on his shoulders around the house. As tears streamed down her face, Lizzie reached out and touched the picture softly.  
  
The phone started ringing upstairs. Knowing that the rest of her family was out, Lizzie jogged up the stairs to answer it. "Hello?"  
  
"Hey girl! I'm home!" 


	5. bad news, a scrapbook, and a call for he...

She immediately knew that something was wrong simply by the tone of her best friend's voice. The joy in it was entirely too forced.  
  
"Miranda... what's going on?"  
  
Lizzie heard the sobs bursting out of Miranda's mouth, and the words that were forced out after them, "I'm moving... to... to... Australia!"  
  
"WHAT?" Lizzie sat down on her bed so hard that she bounced up and down two or three times before coming to a rest. "Australia? What are you talking about?"  
  
"My... my dad's company transferred him to the... the... the Australia division. We're leaving tomorrow morning at four am!" Miranda cried into the phone. "Lizzie, I don't want to leave! We're starting high school. I want to go to high school with you... and with Gordo. Lizzie! I'm never gonna see you again!"  
  
Lizzie felt tears running down her face. She wiped them away angrily, "You can't leave Miranda! What am I gonna do without you?"  
  
Miranda's voice lowered, as she whispered her goodbye. "I don't know. I don't know what I'm gonna do without you either. I have to go finish packing. I'm really gonna miss you Lizzie."  
  
"I'm going to miss you too," Lizzie replied. She hung up the phone and stared at it in disbelief. Miranda was leaving, for good. To an entirely different continent. How was she going to survive high school without her best friend? As if she was not already worried about high school enough, now she would not even have her best friend to help her through everything.  
  
'Whatever I'm going through must be, like, five hundred times worse for Miranda. She's moving to a new continent right before her freshman year of high school. No friends, no nothing.' Lizzie cried silently, her eyes looking at nothing while creating the tears. They finally landed on her friendship scrapbook; the one that she, Miranda and Gordo were working on together. It had pictures in it from when they were in first grade up until their junior high graduation this past spring. Right after graduation, Miranda had left for Mexico for the summer with her mother, leaving her father home alone. Now she was home for a day, only to be leaving for another new country the next day.  
  
Getting up and crossing the room, Lizzie picked up her scrapbook and went to her window seat. She sat down and started flipping through the book, smiling at the memories that the three friends had created together over the years.  
  
One page showed their seventh grade class pictures; Lizzie's, with her wearing the green-paint-splattered tank top and holding up the hideous pink unicorn sweater her Nana had knitted her; Gordo's, he with his "not a frown, not a smile" expression that Ethan Craft coaxed him into; Miranda's, perfect because Lizzie had jumped in front of her to save her outfit. Another showed a collage of all the times the threesome went to amusement parks. Still another had pictures from Gordo's music video. Lizzie smiled slightly, remembering how Miranda stopped eating because she thought she was too fat, and how she and Gordo helped her realize that she looked amazing. The final page had a copy of the picture that Riley had of the trio at their junior high graduation. Underneath it, in large block letters, Lizzie had written: "Gordo, Lizzie and Miranda: Best Friends for Life." Now she was not so sure about that.  
  
As she flipped through the scrapbook, she realized something similar about Miranda and Riley. They both had to leave their whole life behind and move far away from everything they were familiar with. 'At least Miranda will have her family; Riley lost her parents and the rest of her life,' Lizzie mused. Realizing that she would never be able to figure this entire situation out without help, she reached for her phone, dialing a familiar number.  
  
"Hello?" A deep voice resonated in Lizzie's ear.  
  
"Gordo! The most horrible things are happening!" 


	6. the quiet inside my mind

"August 17, 2003 - 11:57 PM  
  
I just got off the phone with Lizzie. Miranda is moving. To Australia. Lizzie is absolutely freaking out. She doesn't know what she's going to do without her. I mentioned that whatever Lizzie is feeling, Miranda's probably feeling it ten times more, since she's the one leaving everything she knows. Lizzie said that she thought of that, and mentioned her cousin, Riley. She says that Riley seems to be having a really hard time adjusting to living here. How could she not be? She's never going to see her parents again and probably won't see her friends for a really long time. Lizzie said that Riley's really upset that she won't be with her boyfriend (Dimitri, I think) for their three year anniversary. Who wouldn't be? Sometimes Lizzie is just so damn superficial; she refuses to see anything below the surface.  
  
Sometimes I wonder what I see in Lizzie. Like I said, she can be so superficial. And she acts like she won't have anyone now that Miranda's leaving. What the hell am I? Apparently nothing. Nothing to Lizzie, nothing to anyone. Even nothing to my parents. I can't believe how much they've been fighting lately. I don't think they've said a civil word to each other in weeks. You'd think that two freakin' shrinks would be able to work out their own problems, but apparently their own issues are too far beyond their reach.  
  
What I really want to know is why can't I get my mind off of Lizzie? She's all I think about. I even dream about her at night. I know that last year I had a huge, monumental crush on her, but I thought I outgrew that. Over the summer, I really started realizing how different we are. All she seems to care about is hair and makeup and popularity. Almost all she talked about all summer was how she hoped that in high school she would be able to be popular. And she still thinks that Kate is going to try to ruin her life. Well, I've got news for her. Kate is going to be just as lost as Lizzie will be in this school. Four middle schools combine to make Hillridge Central. That's four times the amount of kids that was at Hillridge Middle School. Neither Kate nor Lizzie is going to know what will hit them.  
  
But then again, I probably won't either. I don't understand why everyone always thinks I'm the one with all the answers. Probably because I'm the "A-student." But just because I'm smart in school doesn't mean that I know all the answers to life's problems. Like Lizzie was asking me how she should handle, as she puts it, "The Riley Situation." Leave it to Lizzie to depersonalize and completely dehumanize Riley's problems into "a situation." How the hell am I supposed to know what Lizzie should do about it? I haven't even met Riley. And I have no way of understanding what she's going through. I've never lost someone in my life the way she has. She lost her parents. I haven't lost my parents. They're still here. In all their arguing glory."  
  
He slammed his journal shut and threw it against the wall on the opposite side of his room. He was so sick of hearing his parents yelling at each other. That was all they ever did anymore. Sighing heavily, he walked over to the window, glaring out at the summer rain. His rambling thoughts also were driving him crazy. He thought about what he had just written in his journal. He had jumped from topic to topic. Gordo usually knew what was going on with everyone around him, but as of late he was realizing how difficult it was to know what was going on inside his own head. He checked his watch. 12:31. 'Well, I should probably try to get some sleep.'  
  
Walking over to his bed, he flopped down on top of it. He did not know how long he had been lying there, without sleep, until he checked his watch again. 3:12. 'What did I just spend three hours thinking about? I don't even remember. What is wrong with me?'  
  
Voices from down the hall pulled him out of his bed. He leaned closer to his door, straining to hear his parents' argument. 'What the hell are they yelling about now?' He stood there for a moment, before shaking his head in disgust. "The same old shit," he mumbled. Stumbling to his bed, Gordo dropped onto it again, this time face down. He sighed heavily, still not able to fall asleep.  
  
Standing, he looked in the full length mirror attached to the back of his door. He was dressed in baggy sweatpants, without a shirt on. Contently, he noticed that all the working out and life guarding he had done over the summer had paid off. He softly ran his palm over his developed abdomen, noting how tan his whole chest and arms were. Smiling slightly, he noticed that he was not longer able to see his face in the mirror. The growth spurt most boys in school had had when they were eleven or twelve had waiting until this past summer to take hold of Gordo. He now stood at a striking five foot ten. He leaned down to inspect his face. Nothing different there, except a little less baby fat and a little more hair. Lizzie had spent half the summer trying to convince him to cut his hair. Apparently, it would be more mature, more high school if it was shorter. He did not really care what was more mature or more high school. He liked his hair; it suited him.  
  
He crossed the room to where an acoustic guitar sat in the corner, behind a music stand filled with music sheets. Sitting on the floor, Indian style, he began to strum the strings softly. He played some of the chords of John Mayer's "Quiet," humming quietly along with it. Part way through, a deep, but soft, voice sang out one of the lines, "I can't seem to find, the quiet inside, my mind." Another change had come over Gordo that summer. His voice had deepened to a smooth baritone.  
  
Gordo placed his guitar back against the wall, and walked over to the window again. The rainstorm had slowed to a soft drizzle. Leaning his head against the cool window pane, he sighed quietly.  
  
"I can't seem to find, the quiet inside, my mind."  
  
**A/N: John Mayer owns "Quiet." If you've never heard it and like John Mayer, I suggest picking up his self-released album "Inside Wants Out." 


	7. waiting, arguments and breaking up

Three days later, he sat in the local teen hangout, drinking a cappuccino and waiting for his friend to get there. He glanced around, looking left and right, but did not see the one person he was waiting for. She was always running a little bit late. Only today, it was a lot late. She was supposed to meet him half an hour ago, and yet here he sat, alone and on his second coffee of the day. Her cousin was supposed to be coming with her too, the girl she had talked about on the phone with him for the past three days. About how much he just HAD to meet her. And now, on the day when he was finally going to meet her, they were late.  
  
Hearing the doors swing open, he turned quickly to see if it was her. He smiled slightly when he saw that it was, and he raised his arm in greeting, "Hey Lizzie. Over here."  
  
He watched her nudge a girl next to her and point over at him, murmuring something to her. So that is the infamous Riley. 'Wow, she's gorgeous,' he thought, not really knowing if he meant Lizzie or Riley. Watching the two girls as the crossed the room to meet him, he noticed something odd. Riley shrank backwards every time Lizzie tried to touch her, and looked miserable, despite the slight smirk on her face.  
  
The girls finally made it over to the table he had been saving for them and he rose, extending his hand to Riley, "Hey. I'm Dave, but you can call me Gordo." She hesitantly took his hand, and smiled weakly, "Riley, you can call me Riley, or Ri." He grinned, sitting back down quickly.  
  
Lizzie piped in quickly after their exchange, "I don't think I've ever seen the Digital Bean so empty." It was true, Gordo noted, glancing around. Besides their group, there were only two other people in the entire room, and one was a Digital Bean employee.  
  
"Everyone's probably shopping for back to school stuff. We do start in four days."  
  
Squealing, Lizzie smiled excitedly, "I know! I can't wait." Lizzie started chatting with Riley, or more like TO Riley since she was not really responding much, as Gordo's thoughts wandered back to earlier that day.  
  
~~~  
  
"I cannot believe you Howard! This is just what I've been talking about! You have no respect for me, for OUR son, or for this house!" Roberta Gordon's screams reverberated throughout the house.  
  
"I have no respect? I have no respect?" Howard's yells answered her in an even louder and sterner tone. "I am not the one blowing all of our money on make up and clothes and a brand new convertible!"  
  
"I am not BLOWING all of our money!"  
  
"Then how do you explain the fact that we are not as financially sound as we have been for the past ten years?"  
  
Gordo leaned against the window in his room, staring out at the rain falling. It was raining outside, it was raining inside. He tried to block out his parents arguments, but their screams kept filtering up into his awareness.  
  
"I can't believe you are accusing me of this!"  
  
Gordo pulled on his headphones, and turned the volume up all the way on his stereo. He did not even know what he was listening to. He tried to focus on the music, but his mind was wandering too much.  
  
~~~  
  
"Earth to Gordo?" Lizzie waved her hand in front of his face, snapping her fingers.  
  
Gordo jerked back to the present, looking around quickly, remembering where he was. And with who. "Huh? What?" Noticing Lizzie looked annoyed, he smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. I was thinking about something else."  
  
"Obviously!" Lizzie turned to Riley, "He's not like this all the time, I swear."  
  
Riley laughed softly, before standing quickly, "I'm gonna go check my email. See if Dimitri sent me anything." She walked over to a nearby computer and sat down, logging onto her screen name.  
  
He noticed that Lizzie stared at her cousin with an almost longing look in her eyes. He leaned slightly towards her, bracing himself against the arm of his chair, catching her scent in the air. She smelled like lilacs and roses. He inhaled deeply, and then got her attention, "Lizzie. What's the matter?"  
  
Lizzie turned to him quickly, rearranging herself in her chair with her legs curled underneath her body. She sighed deeply, tugging at the hem of her golden yellow shirt and twirling a long strand of blonde hair around a finger on her other hand. She looked up, her hazel eyes rimmed with tears, "It's just so hard Gordo. I look at her, and I know she's miserable. I'm trying so hard to make her feel at home and nothing's working. She just locks herself down in her room and works on painting the walls for hours and hours. She never wants to talk to any of us. I don't know what to do."  
  
He reached over and grabbed her hand. Holding it tightly, he looked closely at her, "There may not be anything you can do, Lizzie. Give her some time. She's been here what, like a week? She lost her whole life in a really short period of time. Let her figure it out on her own." He tried not to think about how gorgeous Lizzie looked when she was trying really hard not to cry. Her eyebrows were furrowed together and she was chewing on her lower lip. She clung to his hand like it was her life support.  
  
"I know Gordo. I just wish there was something I could do," Lizzie pulled her hand from Gordo's grasp to turn in her seat to look at Riley. Gordo followed her gaze, noting that Riley looked even more miserable than before. She was staring at the screen, her eyes glazed over and her mouth hanging slightly open. A single tear snaked its way down her cheek before she wiped it away with her ring finger. He sighed; it was hard to watch someone be so miserable, even someone he did not know very well. Watching her, he found himself not able to tear his eyes from her face. His blue gray eyes focused on her green ones as she stood quickly from the table, and walked jerkily over to himself and Lizzie.  
  
"I'm leaving," her monotonous voice shocked both Gordo and Lizzie visibly.  
  
Lizzie jumped up out of her seat, "Do you want me to come with you?"  
  
"No. Just.. leave me alone." Riley lurched past the two of them, her scent of cinnamon wafting in her wake.  
  
Gordo watched as Riley stumbled from the Digital Bean. He turned and looked at Lizzie, "That was weird." Lizzie nodded, staring worriedly after her cousin. That was something Gordo always admired about Lizzie; somehow she managed to care about everyone, even her enemies.  
  
The Digital Bean employee walked over to the duo, "Hey. Your friend left the computer on. Wanna do something about it?"  
  
Lizzie glared at the boy, and walked quickly over to where Riley had been checking her mail. Gordo watched as her body visibly tensed. He got up and rushed over to her side, "Lizzie? What's going on?"  
  
She pointed wordlessly at the screen. Gordo turned his head and read the words:  
  
"Riley,  
  
I don't think we should see each other anymore. We are 3000 miles apart and can't possibly maintain a relationship over that distance. Besides, Clara Judge wants to take me to Homecoming, and I want to go with her. Sorry.  
  
-Dimitri"  
  
'And now she's lost the only thing she felt she still had. Poor Riley.' 


	8. a bohemian storm is brewing

"August 21, 2003 - 6:13 AM  
  
My life could not possibly get any worse. Just when I think I can't lose anything else that means a lot to me, I do. That's right. Dimitri broke up with me. He has Clara Judge now. She always liked him, and was always plotting to steal him from me, and now she has. I'm so miserable here.  
  
I always used to dream about getting off of Cape Cod. I thought it was so boring, so mundane. But now I would give anything to have my old life back. I miss that so much. It's so hard living with the McGuires. Sure, they're nice and all, but I just can't get used to the idea that Jo and Sam are my new mother and father. I guess I don't really need to consider them that, but that's what they seem me to think.  
  
Lizzie is another story. She reminds me so much of Jackie. That girl and I were best friends forever, and now I'll probably never see her again either. But anyways, Lizzie is like a blonde version of Jax, only a little more superficial. Jackie didn't care about hair and make up and popularity the way that Lizzie does. But still, it's hard not to feel close to her. She's just so warm and friendly. I can't help but want to figure out everything about her and really get to know her.  
  
Matt doesn't really ever talk to me. I think he's really nervous about junior high, and I thought I heard him telling his parents that his best friends had started dating. That has to be hard. I know that it was really hard on Jax when Dimitri and I started dating. But we made sure that we never made her feel like a third wheel, and I personally did my best to spend just as much time with her as I did with Dimitri. I hope that's what Matt's friends do. That kid reminds me so much of Dad, even though they aren't blood related, since Mom is Aunt Jo's sister. He has the same attitude: always joking around, but lurking underneath it is a really serious person. He reminds me of Dad so much that sometimes it's hard to even look at him.  
  
And Lizzie's friends. Well, Gordo seems really nice. We met yesterday at a coffee shop. He seemed a little preoccupied the whole time we were there, though. I wonder what's going on with him. I never got to meet Lizzie's other best friend, Miranda, since she moved to Australia a couple days after I got here. Lizzie is really torn up about her being gone. She's worried about going to high school and not having both of her best friends to help her through everything. And I think she's worried that I won't be willing to help her with anything.  
  
High school. I'm going to be starting my sophomore year in high school in three days, at Hillridge Central. Not Cape Cod High, but Hillridge Central. So I might as well be a freshman, since I won't know where I am, who any of the teachers are, and I only know two other people going there.  
  
I really miss Dimitri. I really miss Mom and Dad. I really miss my old life."  
  
Silently rereading what she had just wrote in her journal, she realized that tears were streaming down her face, plopping lightly onto the pages and smudging the writing. She wiped her face with her palm and shut the book, placing it in the drawer of the table next to her bed. She got out from underneath the covers of her bed and grabbed her things to take a shower. Walking upstairs quietly, she noticed that she was the only one in the house who was awake. She took a quick shower, changing into faded jeans and a white short sleeve shirt. The jeans had paint splatters all over them, and the right knee was ripped. The t-shirt had a black design of a dragon on it, with the words "Chinatown, New York" on it on black angular writing. Rolling up the sleeves of the t-shirt, she gathered her things to bring them back down to her room. She walked down two flights of stairs, and dropped everything on her bed. Still rubbing sleep from her eyes, she reached onto her bureau for her comb, running it through her curly brown hair.  
  
She finished combing her hair, and pulled it into a loose braid, some small pieces falling out and dancing around her face. Reaching into one of the only boxes she had not finished unpacking, she retrieved her painting supplies: paints, brushes, and palettes. The walls of her room were very different from when she had moved in. She had already painted the area around her closet, in a starry skied motif, with the moon creeping out behind misty clouds. The wall behind her bed held some of her favorite paintings in frames; one was a portrait she had done of her mother and father, the second was a fantasy piece she had titled 'Escape,' and the third was a painting of the Cape Cod Canal at sunset. Around these paintings, she had already decorated the wall with faux frames and line and dot designs. (**Quick A/N: I hate it when people do this, but I think this is necessary: Her room is an L-shape, so she has six walls.) The wall across from her closet was painted like the insert of her favorite soundtrack, Moulin Rouge. A blue-gray earth was wrapped with a golden brown ribbon inscribed with the words "A Bohemian Storm Is Brewing." Around the earth, four smaller drawings showed the four things bohemians believed in above all else: truth, beauty, freedom and love. An elephant stood on a ribbon bearing TRUTH, a star was draped in a ribbon bearing BEAUTY, a woman danced below a ribbon bearing FREEDOM, and a heart was encompassed by a ribbon bearing LOVE. The entire background of this wall was a warm tan color.  
  
She now turned to the wall that bordered both her sleeping area and her sitting area. She had decided on painting a seascape that would transgress the entire wall. Getting to work, she first removed the photograph board she had put up. Looking at is closely, she ripped all the pictures of Dimitri from it. She accidentally dislodged the McGuires' Christmas photo card. Picking it up, she studied the whole family. Her eyes reviewed each member in turn, stopping on Matt's face. Matt, so much like her father. Matt, her only physical reminder of her past life. 


	9. worries and arguments

**Quick A/N: I know that in reality Matt is like 3 or 4 years younger than Lizzie (from the episode in which she says he threw his teething ring at her when she was five, making him like 1 or 2), but I'm making him only 2 years younger than her to go with my story. Therefore, Lizzie and Gordo are 14 and freshmen, Riley is 15 and a sophomore, and Matt is 12 and going into 7th grade. Also, the Lizzie McGuire Movie never happened in my story. So no famous-in-Europe-Lizzie.**  
"August 24, 2003 - 12:45 PM  
  
I start junior high tomorrow. So this is my last day of freedom. Summer is going to be officially over. This sucks. And what's worse is that Melina and Lanny started dating. Three days ago, they both just show up at my house and announce it like it was so obvious that it was going to happen. So now I'm going to be into junior high without my two best friends. Unless we can still be friends. But I don't really know.  
  
And I don't know how everyone is going to react to me no longer being the King of Pranks. The summer camp I went to completely changed my outlook on life. I finally realized how sick I was of being the prankster.  
  
My cousin, Riley, is still a huge mystery. She doesn't really talk to anyone, and locks herself in her room, painting. I overheard Lizzie telling Mom that Riley's boyfriend broke up with her, so I don't really blame her for not wanting to talk to anyone. But still, I wonder what's going on in her head. She seems to be warming up to everyone but me. She'll stare at me forever, but refuses to talk to me. I don't get it. Anyways, I'm gonna go see how she's doing. Maybe she'll actually talk to me for once."  
  
He saved his journal entry on his computer, signing out of the internet journal service, and closing down the internet. Walking across the room, he opened his bedroom door, strolling briskly out and down the stairs. He strode over to the stairs to the basement, and cautiously made his way down. Knocking lightly on the door at the base of the stairs, he slowly opened it after hearing her positive reply.  
  
He watched her painting on the walls, swaying to the soft music coming from her stereo. "Hey Ri. Your paintings are amazing!"  
  
She turned slowly, brush still in hand, "Thanks Matt." Smiling softly, she gestured towards the wall he was staring at. "That's the Boardwalk from back home. In the summer, we used to jump of it into the Canal. We called it 'bridge-jumping' and everyone from off-Cape that we told about it thought we were nuts."  
  
"Your room is turning out so cool," Matt turned around in a slow circle, taking in all the murals, in awe not only of the paintings, but of the fact that Riley actually had spoken more than two words to him. Besides the paintings he had already seen of the starry night, the Moulin Rouge inspired wall, and the framed pictures, Riley had completed the seascape that bordered both the sitting area and sleeping area of the room, as well as a colorful abstract mural on the wall behind her couch. The sixth wall, the one she was working on and almost finished with, was a perspective piece, making the room look about ten times its actual size.  
  
Riley smiled again, "Thanks." She turned back to the wall, painting small details, like highlights on doorknobs and windows, with a tiny brush. "Was there something you needed?"  
  
Matt frowned, 'Why doesn't she want me anywhere near her?' His thoughts sung through his head, but his voice only resonated with a "Nope." He walked over to the sitting area of her room, plopping down on the couch. "I was just wondering how you were. And how the painting was going."  
  
"I'm fine; the painting's fine." Riley's short answers and curt voice caught Matt off-guard. Sure she had refused to hold a real conversation with him, but she had never been openly rude.  
  
Standing quickly, Matt stormed over to the ajar door. "Ya know, I'm only trying to be nice! Help you adjust to moving across the country. I know you lost your parents and your boyfriend and your whole damn life, but there is no need to treat me like crap! I didn't do ANYTHING to you!" He wrenched the door open all the way and raced up the stairs, slamming the door behind him.  
  
As he ran through the ground level of his house towards the staircase, he slammed into his sister, knocking her to the ground. She rose angrily, "Watch it weasel! I'm figuring out how to avoid Kate-zilla tomorrow!" 


	10. abandoned again

A/N While the Lizzie McG clan is in school, I'm making their schedule basically the way mine has been for the past 4 years (yes, I'm a senior in high school). So, school starts at 7:20 AM and ends at 2 PM. They will be taking anywhere from 4-8 classes, on a block schedule. Meaning there are 4 blocks, each split up into 2 periods. (A Block = Period 1 & 2, B Block = Period 3 & 4, C Block = Period 5 & 6, and D Block = 7 & 8). Blocks are 90 minutes, Periods are 45. Any questions? Review and ask! Onto the story!!!  
  
"dear diary 3  
  
tomorrow i am starting my high school career as a lowly freshman. well, technically today, since it is 3 AM, so school starts in about four hours. and i am absolutely dreading it. ever since cheerleading tryouts last spring, i have been dreading high school. mainly because i sprained my ankle, so georgette said there was no way i could be on the squad, so the reputation i thought i had set in stone is gone. vaporized. non-existent.  
  
aunt jane and amy are still here. i have no idea when they are leaving. i hope it's soon, because amy just loves to torment me. but for some reason, i don't think they're leaving. ever. i think my mom is going to leave instead. so then i'll officially be an orphan. my father left before sixth grade and now my mother is probably going to leave. i overheard aunt jane and mom talking about how jane would be my legal guardian if anything happened to my mom. i'm so sick of being abandoned.  
  
since it doesn't seem like i'm going to get anymore sleep, i guess i'll just get up and get ready for school."  
  
She climbed out of bed, still grasping the pink fuzzy journal that held all her thoughts and dreams. Locking it, she slid it into the drawer next to her bed, locking that too. The two keys tinkled against each other on the chain around her neck, the chain she never took off. Glancing at the clock next to her bed, she noted that it was only 3:30. 'Less than four hours until hell begins,' she sighed to herself. She pulled out the clothes she was going to wear for her first day at Hillridge Central, a leg-clinging pair of navy blue sweatpants and a gray t-shirt with a pale pink flower on the back. Carrying them into the bathroom attached to her room, she turned the shower on and hopped in. She relaxed, trying to take her mind off the fact that she had to go to school with less than two hours of sleep under her belt.  
  
About a half an hour later, a freshly scrubbed girl jumped out of the shower and pulled on the clothes she had brought into the bathroom with her. She sat in front of her vanity mirror and proceeded to brush her recently cut hair. What used to be blonde curls hanging down to the middle of her back, was now a closely cut chin-length style, dyed a hazelnut brown with blonde highlights. 'Maybe no one will recognize me,' she tilted her head thoughtfully.  
  
A loud bang interrupted her thoughts. She leapt off of the stool, running to her bedroom door and throwing it open. Glancing down the stairs, she saw a suitcase had been tossed down to the ground floor. She turned on her heel, walking quickly to her mother's bedroom door, hanging slightly open. Pushing it the rest of the way open, her mouth dropped, "Mom?"  
  
Clothes were strewn all over the room, and a second and third suitcase were stuffed nearly to the brims with clothing and shoes. The girl walked further into the room, "Mom?"  
  
A middle aged woman suddenly bustled out of the walk-in closet, carrying yet another armload of clothes. She brushed a blonde strand of hair out of her face and turned, noting for the first time her daughter's presence in the room, "Don't hate me, Kate, but I have to go away for a little while."  
  
Kate's eyes began to well with tears, "How long?" The whisper was lost in the flurry of activity in her mother's room. Clearing her throat, she tried again, only louder. "How long, Mom?"  
  
"I don't know, Kate. I just don't know."  
  
Whirling from the room, Kate ran back to her own, slamming the door behind her. She angrily began ripping down all the pictures of her and her mother and father down from the walls. "Why does everyone abandon me?" she screamed at the pictures falling to the ground. "Why?"  
  
She rushed over to the drawer that held her journal, and slid the key into the lock. Opening it quickly, she started throwing more pictures and movie tickets and birthday cards onto the ground. One picture caught her notice, and she held it in her hands gently. It was of a younger, more innocent Kate, standing with her arm around another little girl, blonde hair falling into both of their eyes, toothless smiles aimed at the camera. Kate ran her finger over the picture, 'The only person who never abandoned me. Lizzie McGuire.' 


	11. getting ready and on the bus

"Dear Diary,  
  
Today is the day. The day I hopefully step out of my former position as the klutz from junior high and become the popular girl of high school. Ok. So I'm dreaming a little big. I just don't want to be known as the girl who constantly falls down. And hopefully I won't be. I just have to not fall down. That's the hard part.  
  
The big day starts in just two hours. Gordo's meeting me and Riley at the bus stop in an hour and forty five minutes. I have to get ready! Wish me luck on my first day as a high school student! 3 Lizzie"  
  
She slid the notebook under her mattress and grabbed the clothes she was going to wear, before half jogging - half skipping to the bathroom. Turning the corner, she barely managed to dodge out of Riley's way.  
  
"Morning, Ri!" she chirped.  
  
Riley smiled slightly, "Hey Lizzie. Excited for high school?"  
  
"So much! Gotta take a shower! See you downstairs!" Lizzie practically ran into the bathroom, swinging the door shut behind her. She caught a last, fleeting glance of Riley walked down the stairs in faded jeans and a t-shirt, her hair hanging loose around her face, glasses framing her eyes. 'I didn't know Ri wore glasses.'  
  
Lizzie scrubbed herself clean with her favorite body wash, and washed her hair quickly. She then leapt from the shower, drying off and pulling on the outfit she had decided to wear on her first day as a freshman. A yellow, one-shouldered top and a jean skirt were accessorized by her heart necklace and the charm bracelet that Gordo had given her as an eighth-grade graduation present. She blew-dry her hair so it was stick straight and added some light makeup. Smiling at her reflection, she opened the bathroom door and walked downstairs, ready to start her freshman year of high school.  
  
She found Riley sitting at the counter, already ninety percent done with her breakfast, although it was not really a large meal. "Is that all your going to eat?"  
  
Riley looked down at the SlimFast shake in her hand and shrugged, "I've never been much of a breakfast person." She took a long swig of the drink, sucking up the last drops. Adjusting the small glasses on her face, she hopped down from the stool and began walking toward her room.  
  
"Hey Riley?"  
  
Riley turned around, and tilted her head questioningly, "Mmm?"  
  
Lizzie pointed to the frames surrounding Riley's eyes, "I didn't know you wore glasses."  
  
Fingering the frames delicately, Riley shrugged. "Well, I need them to read. My head always hurts when I read. Ever since the accident."  
  
"Oh. Well, they look really good on you." Lizzie looked down at her plate. She always felt so bad when the accident was brought up. "Um, I'll come get you when it's time to go meet Gordo?"  
  
Riley nodded slightly, and turned, again walking towards her room. Lizzie watched her retreating form, biting her lip in thought. Jo walked in, and laughed slightly at her, "You know, eating the toast in front of you might fill you up more than your lip."  
  
Rolling her eyes, Lizzie swung around to the counter and picked up her toast. Biting into it, she mumbled to her mother, "Do you think Riley's going to be okay?"  
  
Jo fixed herself a cup of coffee, and, sitting down across from her daughter, sighed. "Yeah, I really do. Whenever I talked to Rebecca, she always talked about how much of a fighter Riley was, how stubborn she was. How she would never give up on anything. It might take some time, but I think she'll come out strong."  
  
Lizzie smiled. Finishing her toast, she ran upstairs for a few last minute adjustments to her outfit. She reapplied her lip gloss, and sprayed on her perfume. The scent of lilacs and roses filled her bedroom, and she grinned at her reflection. She put on a few rings that went with her outfit and checked the clock. 6:40 AM. 'Time to start walking to the bus stop.'  
  
~~~~~  
  
Lizzie and Riley stood at the corner with seven other teenagers, all of whom Lizzie recognized from junior high, but had never really been friends with. 'I wonder what's keeping Gordo.' Lizzie strained her neck, looking for the familiar bush of brown hair that covered her best friend's head. She turned to Riley, who was staring into space as though admiring a piece of art.  
  
"Riley?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Are you scared? To go to a new school I mean?"  
  
Riley faced Lizzie, squinting her eyes at the sun. "No, not really. It will kinda be like being a freshman all over again, but I liked freshman year, so what the hey? You're only in high school once; I say live it up. It'll just be weird not seeing all the people I grew up with." She looked past Lizzie's shoulder, smiling slightly. "There's Gordo."  
  
Lizzie turned, smiling. She watched as Gordo walked closer to the bus stop. As always, he looked completely confident and at ease with himself. He was wearing loose fitting jeans and a closer fitting vintage t-shirt. She pulled a green sweatshirt with yellow stripes on the arms out of her backpack and threw it at him as he drew closer to them. Laughing, Gordo snatched the shirt out of the air before it could hit him square in the face. "Did you really think you were going to hurt me with a sweatshirt, McGuire?"  
  
"No, I was simply returning it by airmail." Lizzie smirked, "Thanks for letting me borrow it."  
  
Gordo shoved the shirt into the messenger bag slung over his shoulder, "Took you long enough to give it back. I let you borrow that thing in the first week of July!"  
  
Lizzie laughed, "Hey! I lost it for a little while, and when I found it, I had to wash it. I didn't think you would want girlie smells like lilac and roses on it!"  
  
Gordo and Riley both laughed at that. As the three continued to joke around, the yellow school bus pulled noisily up to the curb. Gordo got on first, followed by Riley and then Lizzie. The bus was completely empty, so Gordo headed to the back, taking the single seat in the last row. Lizzie and Riley sat across the aisle from him.  
  
Riley gazed out the window, watching the world pass by, as Lizzie and Gordo talked anxiously about their new school.  
  
"Do you think we'll be in the same homeroom?" Lizzie twirled a strand of blonde hair around her finger aimlessly.  
  
Gordo shook his head, "Nope. They do it by last name. I'm a 'G,' you're an 'M.' There's almost no chance of that happening. Unless there is suddenly a lack of people with their last names starting with H to L."  
  
Lizzie smiled at his sarcasm, "Very funny, Gordo." She turned to look out the same window her cousin was. Wrapping her arms around her body, she hugged herself tightly, smiling faintly. 'This year is my year.' 


	12. scheduling

She walked through the hall, an almost empty backpack slung over one shoulder, her eyes flying from one side of the hall to the other, locking suddenly on the boy walking next to her. She smiled slightly, taking in his curly brown mop of hair, and his blue-gray eyes. He obviously sensed her gaze, turning to look at her in question. Smiling in return, he asked quietly, "You okay?"  
  
She smiled again, nodding slightly. Looking away from him, her eyes resumed their study of the high school hallways.  
  
Another girl watched the exchange from a few steps behind the two, one her cousin, the other a boy she had known her whole life. She twirled a strand of blonde hair around her finger absentmindedly, staring in awe at the mass amount of people flowing around her in the hallway, 'Gordo wasn't kidding when he said there would be four times the amount of people here.' She realized slowly that since on the bus, she had not seen a single person she recognized except for Gordo and Riley.  
  
The three walked into the courtyard of the school, where sixteen tables were set up. Scanning the signs above the tables, the three noted that there were four tables for each grade, divided by the alphabet, A-F, G-L, M- S and T-Z. Lizzie and Gordo walked over to the freshman area, Lizzie going to the M-S table, Gordo to the G-L table. Lizzie saw Riley walk towards the sophomore area, heading straight for the A-F table.  
  
Lizzie reached the front of the line quickly, and smiled at the teacher sitting behind the table. Her name tag read "Mrs. Lindholm, Theatre Arts." The woman smiled back, "Name?"  
  
"Umm, Elizabeth McGuire." Lizzie smiled again as Mrs. Lindholm handed her a folder of papers, before stepping out of the way to find a place to look over all the information. She found an empty bench, sitting to pull out her schedule and homeroom assignment. Before she had gotten farther than her ID number, Gordo plopped down next to her, followed by Riley, who sat on the grass just in front of them. As she studied her schedule, Lizzie was pleased to see that she had gotten all the classes she had requested, in the semester she had requested them.  
  
"So Lizzie, what d'you have?" Gordo threw his arm around the back of the bench, leaning in to read her schedule.  
  
Lizzie smiled, shaking her head slightly to get her hair out of her eyes. "Fall semester, I have Gym and Computer Keyboarding A Block, English 9 accelerated B Block, World History CP C Block, and Theatre Arts I D Block. Spring Semester, I have Earth Science CP A Block, Algebra I accelerated B Block, Health and Gym C Block, and Creative Writing I D Block. You?"  
  
Gordo picked his schedule up off his lap and started to read it. "In fall I have Earth Science accelerated A Block, English 9 accelerated B Block, Gym and Health C Block, and Film-making I D Block. And spring semester I have World History accelerated A Block, Geometry accelerated B Block, Computer Keyboarding and Gym C Block, and Film-making II D Block."  
  
"Coolie, we have English together this semester and Gym together next semester. Not as many as I would have liked, but hey, at least we won't be completely away from each other." Lizzie smiled, nudging Gordo with her elbow. "What do you have Ri?"  
  
"Umm," Riley fished through her papers to find her schedule. "Fall I have Pre-Calc accelerated A Block, Advanced Art B Block, Graphics I and Gym C Block, and English 10 accelerated D Block. Spring I have Advanced Art II A Block, Biology CP B Block, US History I C Block, and Graphics II D Block."  
  
Lizzie smiled widely, "Hey, we have the same Gym class this semester!"  
  
Riley glanced at her schedule again, smiling, "Yea, I guess we do. Cool."  
  
As Gordo and Riley continued to look through their papers, Lizzie gazed around the courtyard. People were milling all over, getting and comparing schedules. The first day of school at Hillridge Central had no actual classes. Everyone spent the whole day either in their homerooms, picking up their books, finding and figuring out how to open their lockers, or finding the easiest way to get to their classes. She smiled, 'This is so going to be my year.'  
  
***A/N: Soooo, I haven't updated in forever but now I have two chapters up in what? two or three days? Go me! Anyways, the next six chapters are all going to be the first day of school, just from everyone's perspective. Each of my main characters (Lizzie, Gordo, Riley, Kate, Matt and Ethan) will get their own chapter and start from the courtyard on. I hope you're enjoying it, and please review. It will go faster than this soon, but I think the first day of high school (or junior high in Matt's case) is a really important part of my story. This story will span the entire year, until June. I'll probably do a series that goes up until at least Riley graduating, maybe Lizzie and the gang too. Enjoy!*** 


	13. authors note

So. this story is just not happening for me right now. I've tried writing the next couple chapters about 10 times, and nothing is working for me. So, I'm going to leave it up, but stop writing it for a while. I think I'm going to edit/re-write parts of it to make it flow better, and then I'll try to keep on going until the end. Thanks for the support of the 6-odd people who reviewed. See you soon. 


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